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An
Australian businessman has invented a new, 27th, letter for the English
alphabet. It is a symbol to replace the word "the". It looks like a
combination of a capital "T" and a lower case "h" (Ћ). However, the
"new" letter looks the same as a letter from the Serbian language.
Paul Mathis believes many people will like his idea. It is already available
for download on Apple's iTunes. Mathis is hoping mobile phone, tablet and
computer makers will add the letter to their keyboards. He invested $35,000 in
his app, but so far Apple has shown little interest. He told the "Sydney
Morning Herald": "Is this going to change the world? Not really. But
is it something that might be useful for people? I think so."
Mr
Mathis believes the new character is useful because it replaces the most common
word in the English language – "the". He said it will save people
time when they type because they only need to use one key instead of the three
needed for each letter of the word "the". He argued that other words
have their own character. He pointed out that the word "and" has its
own symbol - the ampersand (&) and that is only the fifth most common word.
Mathis also says his new symbol will help "in the texting space" such
as Twitter or texts where there is a limited number of characters. Not everyone
agrees with Mathis. Computer experts don't think manufacturers will change
their keyboards or operating systems.
1.
TRUE / FALSE:Read
the headline. Guess if a-h below are true (T) or false (F).
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a.
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The
English alphabet now has 27 letters.
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T / F
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b.
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The
new letter looks like no other letter or symbol ever created before.
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T / F
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c.
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You
can download the new letter on the Apple iTunes store.
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T / F
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d.
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The
inventor said the new letter was not going to change the world.
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T / F
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e.
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The
inventor said his idea would save people a lot of money.
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T / F
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f.
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The
guy said "the" needs a special character because "and"
has one.
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T / F
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g.
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The
new character will not be very useful on Twitter.
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T / F
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h.
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It
is unlikely that computer makers will add the letter to their software.
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T / F
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Read more:http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1307/130711-alphabet.html#ixzz32bJiksOm
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